Steps in the Right and Wrong Directions
by SabastianScott
Summary: Step One- Go to bed while pissed at narcissistic boss Step Two- Have psychic dream of said boss's twin brother's death Step Three- ? Step Four- Somehow end up saving said twin brother from dying, possibly going into the past to do so Step Five- ?
1. Step 1- Start

**Just so you know, I didn't originally intend to stretch this out, buuuuuuuuut….**

**Well…..**

**I can't update Blind.**

**Let me explain—I currently am still on the anime, which means I have to watch through it AND write at the same time. I do this by pulling up an episode on my iPod and proceeding from there, pausing and going back and rewatching/listening a few (hundred) times for roughly every ten seconds. Right now though, my iPod kinda just… stopped. I came home from a place, listening to my iPod through my car speakers. I toss jacket with iPod in it as well as my phone into my room like usual, do some stuff real quick, etc. I try to turn on iPod to check emails. Nothing. Nada. Blank screen. My home button has been stuck for months so I can't reset or force it into recovery mode, and contacting Apple is on the 'Things that freak me out that probably shouldn't but do anyway' and I already had to replace my first iPod a year or so ago and I have no idea if my warranty is out or not…. And since I don't live on my own juuuuust yet, I still have to tell my guardians.**

**So, either I will A-get a fixed/new iPod and possibly be grounded for, like, ever, B-I will get mad magician skills and fix it, or C-I'll ignore it by writing this for a while, until I gather my meager courage to go talk to some (somewhat moody) old people. **

**Unfortunately, this means Blind won't have updates for a while—unless I can set up a new system. Not hiatus or anything, goodness no, just a setback that you guys are actually informed about for once (crap like this is somewhat normal for me, unfortunately). **

**It was then that I figured that I didn't want to do more sucky update schedules, trying to make a normality of writing for myself, if you will. So, since a few of guys expressed interest, I decided to try to write for this story instead.**

**(Anyone else have a hard time deciding between 'man' and 'boy' or 'woman' and 'girl' when describing teens? Just a thought. Also, this won't be all that long, and will vary from the thing I already have, so that thing will stay up still.)**

**With that said, I hope you enjoy!**

_**STEPS**_

My nightclothes scratched against my back as I turned in the bed, trying to simultaneously shove my sheets off of me while also keeping them on. It felt warmer in here than necessary, and I really just wanted to go out and scream or something but I was so totally exhausted that it wasn't even an actual option from the start.

I blame Naru. If I can't fall asleep at all, it's totally his fault when I'm tired tomorrow. If I feel too warm to sleep under what-should-be-comfortable-but-now-feel-scratchy sheets in my rented bed then that's also his fault.

It's his fault.

Damn secrets.

I'm his assistant. He could have at least given me a damn hint that he was Oliver Davis.

Sure, his alias Kazuya Shibuya is a really obvious fake, but I'm also obviously an idiot and he _still_ hired me so ha!

Maybe if it was only his whole entire 'I'm secretly a famous paranormal researcher with crazy insane powers and I have a doctorate unlike you peasants' thing I wouldn't be so upset.

Annoyed and irritated, yes. Sleepless? Probably not. At least, not for this long.

No, not only he Oliver Davis, doctor-of-bad-aliases, but he is also Oliver Davis, identical twin to a certain 'dream figment' that, as it turns out, is totally real.

Damn psychics.

Why did I not run while I had the chance? I could have just rejected Naru's offer and worked at another tea shop that _hopefully_ wouldn't have shut down. But no. His eyes were pretty.

Stupid emotions. Stupid eyes. Stupid Naru. Damn secrets. Damn psychics. Damn rejection.

Really, it is all Naru's fault when you think on it.

I get the rejection, I do—and the timing was wrong anyway. But he's leaving. Sure, I feel like punching him instead of cuddling him (though that's still a farfetched idea even if he recuperated my feelings), but at least I told him.

Him or Gene….

Can't I just punch both and move on to somebody else? Like with Yasu or something? That would be easy. Though, I can't really imagine a relationship like that with Yasu. He's a great friend, and I'm sure he'd be a great lover, but… Even if he's joking half the time, I'm still not sure whether he really wants in a girl's bed or in Monk's sheets…

Gene… The boy in my dreams. Not of my dreams, dammit, he's just in them. A lot. That almost upsets me. He was able to get into my head, literally, for almost a year and a quarter and I had been calling him by his brother's name. Considering how Naru phrased his rejection… and Naru and Gene being twins…. It must have hurt, at least a little. There's no way it didn't.

If I could, I think I'd change things. Let Gene live. Save him. I won't say 'what's the worst that could happen' because experience says a whole freaking lot can happen that can be classified as 'worst' and it usually gets worse anyway.

But Gene… he didn't deserve death. His family didn't deserve grief. None of them deserved to lose him, including Gene himself. And no deserves having to work for Gene's narcissist brother on a Monday.

Content with my little joke, and the strangely cold breeze brushing hair away from my face like a parent would a child's, I fell asleep with the thoughts of the brothers filling my head.

_**STEPS**_

If you ever want to know what strange is, imagine walking on what should be scruffy asphalt and yet not making a single sound. I knew instantly it was a dream. It couldn't be the schoolhouse children, they got purified by me—a fact none of SPR believe. Heck, I wouldn't either if I wasn't there. But I was, and so was Gene.

Gene….

Road…

It's dark…

Too dark…

Don't tell me…!

Am I about to witness Gene's death?

That's when I spotted the person in question. Gene. Why the heck would he think wearing black next to a dark road was a good idea?

Suddenly, I felt a rush in my ankles. A fox crossed the road, going through me to get to the other side. It reminded me quite fully of the fact I couldn't do anything but watch. I didn't want to, but I somehow still ended up walking beside Gene. I matched my breathing to his, mostly to remind me that he was alive at this point and also of the fact that I still need to breathe myself. I distanced myself after a while, as a way of almost respect for his lonely but seemingly comfortable last moments before… before…

…I heard the car far before I could see it, and Gene froze up. Before either of us knew it, a car was almost upon us both. It would go through me, but Gene…. Gene….

I knew it wouldn't have any affect, but….

Against everything Gene and experience ever taught me, I started running towards the black-clad boy. A strange feeling overwhelmed me, but I pushed on. It was almost like the vision had nearly stopped and I was trying to break through a film. I broke it, somehow, I think, but then felt like a cold shower went over me and yet filled me up, warming up when it came inside of me and filled like a jar. Regardless of the cold shower feeling, I also felt completely dry.

The next feeling was that of a small Japanese girl slamming into the body of a skinny Japanese boy and both falling into the shrubs that, as it turns out, have freaking thorns.

"That hurt… wait…." I blinked at myself. "That hurt…?"

"Ow," I heard a voice say as a rumble went through the ground below me. Or what _would_ be the ground, if a dark-clad idiot walking at night without a flashlight wasn't in the way.

Wait… was this Gene…?

Oh god, it was Gene.

Did I just change a vision?

… Monk's gonna be pissed if Ayako doesn't kill me first.

I thought of what I could possibly say to leave a first impression.

"Uh…"

Great first impression, Mai. Really. Very smart.

"Hello…?" Gene said, his eyes blinking owlishly at me. I realized I was still on top of him and jumped off.

Gene brushed himself off and stood, and, after a moment of hesitation, extended a hand to help me up.

"So, uh…." I said as I grasped his hand and set myself in a state of somewhat order. "I'm Mai."

Gene blinked. "Eugene. Call me Gene. So, do you run into people about to be hit by cars often, or…?"

"Oh!" I said. "I'm sorry, I just… it's a long story… Sorry. Are you okay?"

"You just saved my life, probably. I'm fine. What about you?" Gene asked. "Are you alright?"

"Me?" I almost laughed. "I'm fine. But, uh, quick question…"

"Um, sure?" Gene said, unsure.

"Why are you wearing such dark clothes, while walking next to a road, at night, with no flashlight or obnoxious yet useful reflector sticker? Sure, you'll look lame but cars will actually know that you're there."

Gene looked a little sheepish as the tip of his ears colored a little in the (lack of) light. "Well, I live in England, and I like my cultural roots… I don't get to connect with them much. So combine that with my like of the color black and suddenly I'm dressing like a ninja."

"…." I didn't really have a response. It made sense, but _what._

Then I thought of something. If I'm actually here, and not in some screwed up version of the astral plane, then how the heck am I gonna get home? And what about those cases? We—I—will need to solve them all over again.

… Crap.

Note to self. Stop saving your boss's twin brother. You end up screwing stuff up.

This was going to suck.

_**STEPS**_

**Yeah, I kinda have an idea about where I'm going with this, but if I don't… I'll just apologize now for the mess I'll probably make (why oh why did I think a story with time travel was going to be organized?!).**

**Until next time!**


	2. Step 2- A New Beginning?

**So I solved my issue with technology. In other words, I totally let it die in a corner then revived it. It works now. Unfortunately, school likes to get in the way of things, and the holidays are way too hectic for anything good writing wise.**

**Anyway, I don't own Ghost Hunt and I hope you continue enjoying this story!**

**ENJOY?!**

_**STEPS**_

"So…. Uh…." Gene said, looking a little lost as to what to do next.

"Uh… So I'm Mai Taniyama… Yeah, um… Weren't you going somewhere…?" I said.

Gene's eyes lit up, finally finding something to talk about. "Nice to meet you, Taniyama. Yeah, there's a village nearby. They wanted some help on some… problems they've been having."

"The village?" I asked. They gave us our last case… If I went back in time, or whatever, then the case wasn't solved… and Gene's a spiritual medium. A fairly famous spiritual medium at that. Of course they'd tried to contact him if they knew a certain spiritual celebrity name Eugene Davis was in the vicinity. "Are you going there for the schoolhouse case?"

The supposed-to-be-dead-right-now twin gave me a weird look. "Yes… Did they contact you too?"

"Not… exactly," I said. "It's a bit of a long story, and you probably wouldn't believe me."

"Really?" Gene seemed to take that as a challenge. "Try me."

I sighed. "Fine. But don't say I didn't warn you. First of all, what's today's date, year and all?"

Gene gave me another weird look, but rattled off the complete date. "But what does that have to do with the village?"

"Well," I said. Here goes nothing. "Long story short, I'm kinda… from the future."

"…" Gene stared.

"…" I stared back.

"… You're not kidding, are you?" Gene said.

"Unfortunately, no," I said. "And in that future… I met your brother."

"You've met Noll?" Gene said. It took me a moment, but I recognized the weird nickname for Oliver that sounded a suspicious lot like 'Naru'. "The idiot scientist I call a twin brother Noll?"

"The very same. Though, I call him Naru," I explained.

"Naru?" Gene quirked an eyebrow.

"Narcissist," I deadpanned.

Gene wrinkled his nose. "Why are you insulting me? I am _not_ a narcissist. Noll, however…"

"That's what I _meant_," I sighed. "Naru is short for narcissist."

Gene gave a rather loud snort of laughter. "Why the hell did I not think of that? That's _priceless._" Gene continued to laugh and I couldn't help but feel a tug at the corners of my mouth.

"Come on," I said, lightly hitting Gene on his arm. "We gotta get to the village."

"Right, right," Gene started leading the way, still laughing as he did so, and I followed quietly. He sobered up after a minute or two. "So, you do know my brother at least a bit. But that doesn't mean I believe you about the time travel."

I sighed and said, "I figured as much."

"Regardless, you know _something,_ so what do you know about this village's case?" Gene asked.

I tried to think back to the case I—we?—had to resolve. And just after SPR solved it too! "Well, the villagers did not tell us the whole story, and I'm guessing they didn't tell you either. Every few months or something a person would go missing, but they stopped reporting it after a while. All of the bodies were found in the schoolhouse."

"Woah," Gene whistled.

"Yeah, and it gets worse. The culprits are this class that died in a landslide during a field trip when their bus got buried. Really, it's the teacher orchestrating the whole thing to keep the children happy. Right now, they're all gaki."

"Wow. How did it get solved?" Gene asked.

I flushed a little. "Uh…" I didn't want to tell Gene that he _died, _not just yet anyway. He didn't believe me as is. _Hi, I'm Mai Taniyama, your brother's assistant from two years in the future. We solved cases and such. By the way, you were supposed to die. Oops._ Yeah, that would go over so well.

"…Taniyama?" Gene prodded at my lack of response.

"Oh, sorry," I said. "… To put it in the simplest terms possible… My, uh, spirit guide… guy… whoever helped me. Got me to do a cleansing I think, though all I really did was talk."

"But the spirits heard you," Gene sounded impressed. "And they listened. Impressive. You have a spirit guide?"

_Yep, and I'm talking to him. Surprise job promotion!_ "Yeah, I did."

Gene noticed my past tense. "Did?"

I shrugged. "Or I guess the correct term would be 'will have' since I'm not from this time… And I don't think I'll actually, er, 'connect' with him again…"

"What do you mean?" Gene asked.

"It's…. complicated, to say the least. Freaking time travel," I said.

"I still don't believe you on that, you know," Gene said.

"I know, I wouldn't believe me either," I sighed. I spotted an oddly familiar cabin. "Hey, isn't that the campsite?"

Gene looked to where I was pointing. "Ah, so it is. It seems to be the campsite. I'm going to rent a cabin here during my stay. I hope they'll be okay with the late hour of my arrival…"

That's when I realized something.

_Where the hell am I going to stay? I don't even have any other clothes?_

"Taniyama?" Gene noticed my distressed face.

I sighed, irritated at myself. "Time travel sucks."

_**STEPS**_

It wasn't very hard to convince Gene that I seriously did not have anything on me other than my baggy shorts and collared shirt. I didn't even have any ID. In fact, other than my clothes, the only possession I seemed to have was my old house key. It also wasn't too difficult to convince him that I really wasn't from this area after we talked to the men in the head cabin.

It was significantly harder to secure some clothes to at least borrow in the meantime. Eventually, I secured some ridiculously frilly nightgown that I decided to burn at a later date, a small bag, a change of clothes, and, as a much appreciated bonus, a hair brush.

Gene let me share a cabin with him, and when I even so much as voiced trying to pay him back somehow later he would shush me immediately. Thankfully, this particular cabin had two bedrooms.

I was hoping to avoid Gene seeing the stupid nightgown.

No such luck.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Gene laughed as he saw me come out of the bedroom in the morning. I smelled breakfast and somewhat forgot the stupid frilly thing I wore for the night.

"Shut up!" I blushed. "I needed to wear something last night and this town is so not receptive to a girl with no possessions on her!"

"And so you kidnapped a little girl's lace curtain?" Gene asked.

I huffed. "You're just as bad as Monk," I mumbled to myself, too quiet for Gene to hear. "So are you making breakfast or what?"

Gene laughed again. "Yeah, after we eat and, in your case, change into actual clothes, we'll head to schoolhouse."

I get to be locked in a school building with Eugene Davis who, by the way, is DEFINITELY Naru's brother for who knows how long to solve a case all over again when yesterday, which was also technically around two years in the future, I had already cleansed the place….

...It's official. Time travel sucks.

_**STEPS**_

'**Time Travel Sucks' is pretty much gonna be Mai's motto. At the least, it was her motto for this particular chapter. And I have to agree. As much fun as it may seem at first, you'd eventually get a little homesick but your friends will be either their younger, less mature selves or not born at all, you'll just be missing random stuff in your room if it even **_**is**_** your room and yeah. Not fun.**

**And how do you even get back?**

**Yeah, no.**

**Question of the day! How would you react to Gene's situation? Or if someone just started talking about how they time traveled but somehow DID know random stuff about you? I, for one, probably would NOT react well…**

**I have a pretty great idea as to where this story is going, but as always, I'm always open to suggestions! **

**UNTIL NEXT TIME, FRIENDS!**


	3. Step 3- A Meager Trust

**I would say 'I'm so sorry I'm so terrible at updates' but frankly its not even a new thing with me. I'm bad at updates. I also seem to forget that some of my stories **_**exist**_** and it's a horrible habit, really. **

**Like, I forgot half my notes on this. I did figure out, slightly, what I'm gonna do, though, so hopefully this time travel fic won't screw me over too badly.**

**Bleh.**

**Anyway, I don't own Ghost Hunt and all that jazz, etc etc.**

**ENJOY!**

_**STEPS**_

Unlike me, Gene actually possessed some amount of cooking skills, which I was thankful for since, between time travel and what had happened from before I went into the past—and I tried not to think too hard on that last part—I had no idea when I had last eaten.

I quickly changed into the spare clothes I got from the village girl, stuffing my original outfit and the stupid nightgown into a small backpack that she had oh so generously donated to me. Now, if only it didn't look like a unicorn exploded on it, I might be slightly more thankful. Gene and I immediately headed out. He might not quite believe my time travel story, despite the truth of it, but he did know I knew something, so I was dragged along.

Even if I hadn't known anything, I think Gene would have at least told me to stay in the cabin until he dropped me off at a hospital somewhere, safe from the world. He just seemed nice that way…

Back to the case at hand.

We stood outside the old building, neither of us moving forward just yet.

"So," Gene said, not looking away from the school. "What do you know?"

I bit my lip, wondering how I should word this. "Well, I already told you about the missing people, and the gaki children. I would be surprised you know what 'gaki' are, but unlike me, you're actually a professional."

Gene gave a short chuckle. "Now, if only my brother could hear you say that. But yeah, I remember what gaki are, from one of Noll's more obscure books... Not a pleasant sounding fate."

I nodded. "Yeah… Anyway, so we have the children, plus some kidnapped spirits, and then the teacher, who really, _really_ didn't like me much at first. We just need to find a way to cleanse them."

"Didn't you say something about talking to them, with advice from your spirit guide?" Gene asked.

"I did," I said. "But I had astral projected when I first talked to them. I'm still not sure how to do it, really, and I'm not exactly sure I can even do it as is."

Gene got a curious look in his eye. "What do you mean?"

I couldn't help the sigh that came out. "I'll try to explain this in the least confusing way possible," I said. "So, in the future—_don't give me that look_—I had only really astral projected in the real world twice. The first time was something I'd really rather not remember, and I didn't do it intentionally. That was a few months before we took this case. Then I did it again for this case. Now that I've traveled back in time, though, I'm not sure I currently have the ability to astral project…"

"Almost everyone has the ability, technically, it's just harder for some people," Gene said. "But if your abilities haven't awoken yet, as you claim, then it's better to not do a crash course in a haunted building."

"Please, let's not," I said. "I only managed to piss off the teacher the first time I talked to them anyway. The second time, I had to go talk to them in my own body, but they were only out of hiding because I had already confronted them and everyone else had already disappeared."

"Everyone else?" Gene questioned.

"Er-" I hesitated. "Another time. All you really need to know was that we were a team, and whenever someone went off by themselves, they disappeared and were replaced by a child ghost—though we hadn't realized at the time. The ghosts totally fooled us. So, uh, we really shouldn't separate if we can help it. Or go on the second floor."

Gene looked me over for a second before shrugging. "If you say so. Luckily, we won't need to draw them out. I should be able to see them on my own… You mentioned having some psychic abilities. What are they?"

I blinked. "Well… they aren't very impressive. Sometimes I get dreams and, even more rarely, visions of ghosts. But, um, this far back in the past… I hadn't really shown any psychic abilities yet, so… I'm not sure I can do anything. I wasn't a powerful psychic to begin with, really."

"I'm sure they're in you somewhere," Gene said. "They just gotta be given the right push to 'wake up'. And, what better push than a ghost?" He smiled, and I couldn't help but think that perhaps Eugene Davis was just a touch insane.

Well, this ought to be fun…

_**STEPS**_

To be fair, Gene was relatively calm about being locked in after he threw that chair at the window.

"By the way, we'll get locked in as soon as we get inside," I said at the panting Davis twin.

Gene glared over his shoulder at me. "That would have been nice to know earlier."

"Would you have really, truly believed me?" I said. "Anyway, I forgot about that. Don't worry, once the spirits are cleansed we'll be able to open things up again."

"Because that makes me feel so much better," Gene muttered darkly before straightening up and stretching. "Well, I guess that means we need to get to work. You claim to have been here before, lead the way."

"I mean… I guess?" I shrugged, making sure Gene was actually following me as I walked towards the classroom. "Tell me if you see anything."

"Oh, no, I'm already seeing spirits. And hearing them. I just want to see if you'll actually take me to the epicenter," Gene admitted, and I looked over my shoulder to see him with his hand by his side, almost like he was holding a child's hand.

Fantastic.

There were ghosts and I couldn't even see them this time around.

Still, I didn't feel threatened. As much as I hated to admit it, my 'animal instincts' had pretty much always been there, and if they weren't telling me to bolt, then it shouldn't be _too_ dangerous.

Hopefully.

We reached the classroom I remembered from before. I opened the sliding door, and though I couldn't see anything this time, I knew that the rest of the spirits were here. Guessing by Gene's slight gasp, he saw them like I had the first time this happened.

Which technically never happened because this was the past. Time travel. Wonderful, isn't it?

Thankfully for me, Gene did pretty much all of the talking, and I was ignored entirely. Which as fine by me. I couldn't see the spirits anyway, and I rather I didn't offend them somehow because of something that I simply couldn't do, IE, interact with them.

I did feel the peace when they all moved on, though. Just like when I had done it a couple of days ago/a couple of years in the future, it brought me to tears. Gene was the same, and we both ended up crying for a tiny bit before we collected ourselves enough to leave and start walking back to the village.

We were about halfway there when Gene started talking again. "So, you were right," he said, his tone a touch strange.

I nodded, suspicious. Where was he going with this…?

"I still don't believe you traveled through time," Gene said. "It's one thing to be psychic, another to say to broke the laws of time and space and quantum physics and other big words my brother likes to use."

I nodded again. That was fair. "I wouldn't really believe me either, honestly, but it's the truth and I really don't want to lie. I'm pretty terrible at it anyway."

"Whatever it is that happened to you," Gene continued. "You know _something_. Did you go on any other cases with my brother? Did anyone… did anyone die?"

"I went on a few cases," I admitted. "And, yes, think about it, there are people who died that are currently alive… I've already screwed up the future as it is just by walking with you right now, so I might as well try to save them… Not really sure how to, but I have to try."

Gene nodded. The first few cabins were a distance away, but we could start to see them now. "While I don't believe you on the time travel thing, at least not yet, you might be onto something. So how about this." He stopped walking, which made me stop, and faced me fully. "We go to all these cases you went on, meet these people you've met. If you're right on all of them, I'll believe you. If not, then I'll see to it that we found out what _did _happen to you."

I gulped. I already screwed up time, so who knows what might have changed? "I can't guarantee all of them will be the same… and, anyway, other than saving some people and finding the rest of my group, what would be in it for me to team up with you on this?"

"Well, we already discussed your psychic abilities, right?" Gene said. "So, while we're out there following your supposed 'future', I'll train you and your abilities. I may not be the greatest teacher ever, but I can at least teach a beginning latent psychic, such as yourself."

I thought for a moment. "Alright, fine… But I need to go to my home first. In Tokyo. And I should probably get off school for a while to do this. It might take longer than just summer vacation…"

"I was nearing the end of my trip here anyway," Gene said. "I'll just have to extend my stay here for a while. Tokyo right?"

I smiled. "Yep!"

And with that, we started on a very strange, very confusing journey…

_**STEPS**_

… **So yeah, here? (What do you mean it's been like a year since I updated shush.)**

**Heck if I know when I'll update… Blind is going slowly, for various reasons… ANYWAY, so any ideas or suggestions on which case Mai and Gene should tackle first? Or any ideas for this story at all? I'd love to hear them!**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME, FRIENDS!**


	4. Step 4- Calling Home

**So I have some explaining to do as to why I just up and disappeared… so uh. Basically… I got sick, been sick, am sick, will forever be sick, but it hit me **_**hard**_** for a while. I temporarily got a job as a housekeeper, and I'm not even kidding, I nearly killed myself. Not in a melodramatic way, I mean I was in the middle of dispensing my assets before I realized that this was not normal. I didn't tell you guys this for pity, I'm just informing you on a stressful situation. Anyway, I quit that job, and began a road of recovery from, ya know, almost killing myself. **

**Now, I'm back in school, kinda terrified about it all, since it's college, but anyway. I have a schedule, which should help me mentally, and I'm trying to get back to writing. I'm not sure when I'll be able to face writing Blind again, as it's the biggest fic and requires the most… stamina? To get through, but I'll try to update my other, smaller fics. Be warned, I'm afraid my writing style might have changed? I'm not sure, but even if it has, it shouldn't be too different. I'm really just not sure where I stand on the writing game after being out of it so long… Thank you guys for being so patient with me.**

**That said, I don't own Ghost Hunt, and I sincerely hope you enjoy!**

_**STEPS**_

Don't say I didn't try to be even with Gene as far as the whole 'owing him' thing went, seeing as he has now not only paid for the taxi we used to get to this hotel, but also paid for said hotel rooms and bought some clothes for me, since I couldn't wash anything I had already worn. Whenever I tried to even _suggest_ it, though, I was immediately turned down with him saying, "It's not an issue, I promise."

Damn rich people.

Eventually, it ended up in a similar circumstance as it did with his brother—for dealing with me, I'll make you tea with the dubious promise that it's probably not poisoned.

Currently, Gene was discussing his extended plans with his mother, Luella. The only time I had ever met the woman was when she was crying after Naru found-

Gene had already cancelled his ticket back home, which would have been in a couple of weeks, figuring that this would probably take at least a month or two, and that's if we rushed it. Having only known the woman as sad, however, I was not prepared for the argument Luella was having with Gene about him staying, and since Gene apparently didn't know how to turn his phone off of 'speaker', I got to hear all of it.

"Why are even _staying_ for… how long did you say for? I've already missed you like crazy, and you'll miss Noll's first day! Heck, you'll miss _your_ first day! Or did you forget you're still in school?"

Judging by Gene's flinch, he had.

"I doubt your father would approve of this, no matter the reason. And as much as Noll likes to pretend he doesn't care what you do, let me assure you that he very much would like you to come home sooner rather than later."

"Look, Luella," Gene started in. "It's… it's complicated. I have to help someone, a lot of someones actually. I can't just leave them like they are!"

I…. I'm right here, you know that right? And I can hear you.

"Someone? Who is this someone?" Luella gave out a scandalized gasp. "_Don't tell me you went off and got a girlfriend!"_

"What? No-"

"Madoka, Gene's growing up, make him stop!" Luella yelled away from the phone. I tried to hide my snicker, but Gene could absolutely see how amused I was.

Moments later, another female voice came over the line. "Gene, what's this I hear about you staying longer and a girlfriend?"

Gene groaned. "No girlfriend, I'm just staying in Japan longer for a… I guess you could call it a project? Or experiment. Depends on how you look at it."

"Aw, and here I was hoping to tease you," Madoka said playfully. "Seriously though, be more specific, why are you staying in Japan?"

"Er," Gene tried to think fast, I could see it. What would his genius brother do? An eloquent but blunt dismissal of their fears, for sure, saying how he could handle himself just fine. No stutter, just a for-sure plan of how he would tell them no new information while getting them off his back.

Well, Gene was not Noll.

"I'm –pssh- sorry, looks like our –pssh- connection is running –pssh- out, I'll have to call you –pssh- later, okay-thanks-bye." Gene cut off the call and then, for good measure, chucked his phone from his position near the bathroom door into the bathtub, watching it with bated breath.

He would have liked me to say that he gave a manly scream when the phone began to ring furiously.

I laughed for a few good minutes while Gene stumbled with his phone, putting it on silent without actually answering the call.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up," Gene grumbled as he flopped down on the second bed in the room, since I was on the first one.

"You do know that at least Madoka will literally come to Japan to drag you back to England, right?" I said as my giggles faded.

"I'd like to say 'you don't know that', but something tells me that you _do_," Gene said, his voice muffled by the pillow. "And you're right anyway, so you might just meet her."

"Well, hopefully it goes about as well as it did the first time," I shrugged, talking without completely thinking it through.

"Wait, you've met her already?" Gene sprang up to a sitting position at that.

"What-oh," I mumbled. "Yeah, just recently. Er, I mean, in the future? Um… Okay, so to _me_ it was a couple of months ago, but to _you_ it wouldn't have happened yet, since from _now_ it'd be in around a year or so."

"Again with the time travel, huh? Okay then," Gene said. "I'll indulge you, what was she doing here, and why did you meet?"

Well I can't say she was here to check on Naru and to see the progress on finding your waterlogged body, now can I? "She…. I'm not too sure. I'm fairly certain that she was checking up on Naru on behalf of his-your-parents. I think she was helping him on a… personal project of his own. Or she wanted to see Lin."

"Personal project? You met Lin?" Gene asked.

"Worked with him," I said. "Naru was our boss, although Lin was actually his bodyguard. I met Madoka at the office when Naru was briefing us all on a case that, come to think of it, he took because Madoka asked him too…"

Gene sighed deeply. "Okay, wait a second. There's… a lot of questions to be asked here. What is this case now? And by 'us all on a case', who are you referring to? It's a weird wording if you meant just you and Lin, who was apparently Noll's bodyguard? And you didn't answer me on the project thing."

"I wasn't really privy to the project, honesty," I said. "And we were a whole team. Naru ran Shibuya Psychic Research, or SPR for short. We didn't realize SPR was actually supposed to mean the Society of Psychical Research, and Naru didn't tell us and kept it a secret for a long time… but that's a different story. While Naru was here, your parents had Lin watch him to make sure he didn't get into trouble, like, I don't know, overthrowing the Japanese government or something. Seems like something he'd do if he got bored enough."

"True."

"As for the team itself… The only actual members of SPR were Naru, Lin, and myself. After that we had people we either ran into often on cases or usually asked for their help. If you count Madoka and SPR, we had nine in total."

Gene whistled lowly. "Eight people could tolerate Noll's presence? Not that he's bad but-"

"No, you're right, Naru's personality sucks. I made a point of telling him so."

"Did you now?" he smirked. "Other members aside, what was your relationship with my brother? Other than him being your boss, that is."

"With Naru?" I asked. No way in heck am I mentioning that I had (have?) a crush on him nor am I explaining a rejection that hasn't happened yet. Otherwise… "He had a sucky personality, and we butted heads a few times. He was rather stoic and always seemed… kind of cold. But if you looked, or had to serve him tea first thing on a Monday during a break from school, you could tell that he wasn't just one emotion of blankness."

"No?"

"No, sometimes he was a pissed off, _tired_ emotion of blankness."

Gene laughed at that. "Yeah, he's not exactly a ball of sunshine in the morning… or at all. He's not a robot either, though."

I couldn't help the chuckle. "Madoka said that too. That he wasn't a robot. And you're both right… He has his emotions, but he hides them. Sometimes, he's almost… soft."

"Soft? Noll got soft around you? You must've been special," Gene said, smiling.

"… I'm not sure I like that smile on your face right now, Gene," I looked at him suspiciously. "And I'm not sure if I'd be considered 'special' to him or not. He'd try to protect me on cases, though, mostly because I have a knack for getting myself into ridiculously dangerous situations and 'It would be a pain to train another assistant' if I did manage to get seriously hurt."

Gene nodded slowly. "I'd say you were fairly close to him if he protected you on cases… He at least considered you a friend. Hopefully you'll get to meet up again and become friends again… how did you meet in the first place anyway?"

"Um," I felt myself heat up a bit. "He was on a case near my school and… I kinda… broke one of his cameras and... Lin…"

"You broke Lin?" Gene asked, smiling and holding back a laugh. "What did you do, push a bookcase and break his arm?"

"It was a shoe locker and he only sprained his leg, thank you very much," I pouted, crossing my arms.

"Oh, well that makes it _so _much better."

"Oh, hush, Madoka told me about the time you accidentally pushed him down three flights of stairs."

"… I've been betrayed. And he lived, didn't he?"

"You broke his femur!"

We both began laughing, unable to keep a straight face anymore. We made small talk about our plans for the next day, when we would arrive in Tokyo. First things first, I'll get to my apartment and figure out what we'll say to my school, especially since I've already missed a few days by my calculations. After that…

It honestly scared me that I had no idea what we would do after that. Would there be enough time to save anyone at all…?

Gene turned in his bed, both us having tried to fall asleep an hour ago, and him actually succeeding in it.

Well, at least I saved one person, right…?

_**STEPS**_

**Yes, I did have an Ouran High School Host Club reference in here. I also don't own that.**

**And poor Lin can never get a break. Unless it's his bones. Then he get lots of breaks.**

**I'm basing a lot of this on American systems –such as the hotel and certain aspects of the school system and such. Not because I'm unwilling to research but it'd be easier to just… stick to what I know for now.**

**As of right now, I'm torn. There's several ways this could go, but the way I see it, there are… four, mainly. There's the 'everything ends happily, it doesn't hurt' route, the 'realism, we can't save everyone' route, the 'angst, it hurts, if I can pull it off right' route, OR the 'bittersweet' route. All of them will have unforeseen consequences and such. Sometimes, it's just time for something to go, or sometimes an event must happen, but I'll drastically change what actually happens depending on what you guys want, with little to no deaths/consequences to 'whelp we effed up'. That said, it won't have any immediate consequences at the moment. For now, everything is going as is. So if you don't mind suggesting what you want in the comments, I would greatly appreciate it!**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME FRIENDS!**


	5. Step 5- Hair Cuts and Cut Visions

**Hey yo! Another chapter coming your way. You guys are great, with both comments and patience, you're the best, even if you're new, even you, yes you. You're great. *hearts***

**Considering the fact I've technically been working on this story for around/over a year now, you'd think I would have already realized that I'm going to have to mostly make up Sakauchi's personality. **_**Oh, this is going to be fun**_**. Of course, he's not going to appear yet, I'm still deciding on the order of events/which cases they're going to try to fix prematurely. But since his death is somewhat approaching quickly, he (as well as Yasu) will likely be the first ones we go to. After that… Not sure. Probably Kansai, then… Well, probably going to go burn down the mansion in Bloodstained Labyrinth, so technically arson, but it's for a good cause? Kenji will pop up around this time, and then I guess Dollhouse, and now I can't remember any of the other freaking cases. Um. The one at Mai's school is… I have a **_**plan**_** but I'm not sure if it'll work yet. Oh, and if I can't manage to squeak in the other members (Masako being the hardest, Monk and Ayako not particularly easy to get to either, but John should be easy enough to get, theoretically, but their reactions to the whole thing will probably be very different than what they were originally) before facing the fake god thing then I have no plan. Actually, even if I can, I'm not sure how I'm managing it. And I hope to save the lady in the park, the one that got startled by a cat and died, but I'm not sure what I'll do with her either, so maybe I won't and we'll have some lovely angst. Or I can get some adult supervision for these children that are just running around the countryside, burning down houses and breaking into wells below people's living rooms. **

**I don't own Ghost Hunt.**

**ENJOY!**

_**STEPS**_

The first place we went to once we got to Tokyo was my apartment. Firstly, because it was my apartment. There is no secondly on this.

One of the many, _many_ grievances I had about this time travel adventure was the fact that my hair was long again. Long hair, I would like it to be acknowledged, is a pain.

Thus, the first thing I did once I got into my apartment— apart from getting my shoes off and reminding Gene, whom trailing behind faithfully, to do the same— was go get my scissors.

"Woah, wait, what are you doing-" Gene stuttered. To be fair, he had just followed a complete stranger into an admittedly not-fantastic apartment and said stranger just pulled a rather disproportionally large pair of sharp scissors out of nowhere. I could see where his concern was.

"Calm down," I muttered, setting the scissors on the table and looking for a plastic shopping bag. I kept a hoard of them somewhere… "And close the door and sit down, would you? The slippers are literally at your feet."

Gene, not looking completely convinced as usual but going with it anyway, did as told and sat down on one of the cushions.

Meanwhile, I had found my cache of bags. "I know it's not much," I said, setting the bag down on the table and then starting yet another search for a rubber band, "but it is my home."

For his credit, Gene only hesitated a little before asking, "You live alone? Where are your-"

"My parents?" I interrupted as I found a rubber band I did not mind parting with. I carefully worked on getting my hair out of the ponytail it had been in for the past couple of days—aka the main reason I hadn't been bothered by it before just now. "They're not around. I live on my own. Currently between jobs and have a really nice school that lets me attend for free." Hair down, only to be put back up again by the band.

"Oh," Gene said. There really wasn't much to say on the subject.

I focused on my task for a few more moments. "You wanted to know about the team I was on, right?"

"Ah," he immediately grasped onto the conversation change. "Yeah, you told me about working with Lin and Noll, and also about Madoka and meeting my mother, but not about the rest of them, whoever they are."

"Well," I said, only slightly wincing as I tugged the rubber band to exactly the right place I wanted it to be. "Let's start with someone you may have heard of. She's actually been on TV before."

"Oh, woah, really?"

"Yep!" I chirped. Whatever our relationship was, I would proudly brag about Masako's skill, and it had absolutely nothing to do with the offhand coolness I got from being associated with her, none at all. Really. "Masako Hara was our usual medium and our go-to when looking for ghosts."

"Huh…" Gene looked mildly troubled for a second before asking, "And she was the real deal?"

"As far as I could tell. She saw things we couldn't. But we had some debate about whether she was actually a psychometrist or not…" Finally, I had my hair exactly as I wanted it. I set my hair into the bag, and then picked up the scissors.

"What are you-"

The sound of cutting hair is well known by nearly everyone. Thus, my scissors sufficiently accomplished both cutting off my hair and cutting off Gene's words.

"Ah, much better," I said, making sure all the loose hair was in the bag, secured by the rubber band. I already had bangs, and it was a clean cut through my hair. Hair bag in the trash, hands running through my hair to fluff the now-short style, and Gene sufficiently shocked because, well, this really wasn't all that normal. At all. "Sorry about that. My hair was long at this time, but I cut it short like, a week from now? And I haven't looked back. Felt weird to have long hair and I couldn't stand it for very much longer."

"It's- well, I guess its fine. Suits you better, actually."

I smiled. He's keeping up as well as possible, all things considered. "Thank you. Now, who next…?"

"Well, you said there was, what, nine of you in total?" Gene asked. I nodded. "Including yourself, Madoka, Lin, Noll, and Miss Hara, that makes five. So any of the next four is fine by me."

"Ah, well, I guess… John, then. John Brown. An exorcist."

"Oh?"

"Yeah, he's actually really young, and has a Kasai accent… It's unfortunately very funny. Um, he's Catholic and comes from Australia, and I think he's… wait, he'd be nineteen right now? He turned twenty, but this is the past… so maybe eighteen…? Is he even in Japan right now…?"

"He's that young and doing exorcisms?" His tone was slightly incredulous.

"Um, yes…? I think we also talked about that, but honestly, whatever he does _works_ so. I don't suppose it honestly matters…?"

"Ah, well," Gene shifted slightly. "What about the last three?"

"Oh, geez, choose between Monk, Ayako, and Yasu? Not an easy choice." I hummed quietly as I thought. "Well, Yasu's as good a start as any. Osamu Yasuhara. He's the most recent, ah, member…? He does killer research, and it's kind of scary what and how much he can come up with in a short amount of time. Super smart, but as always, His Highness Naru will forever have us all beat. Luckily, or maybe not depends whose asking, Naru actually likes Yasu. I think. Maybe tolerates is a better word. Yasu's… a bit of a prankster."

"I can see where your hesitation comes from, then," Gene stifled a small laugh.

I couldn't help the small laugh that came out in response. "Monk and Ayako are almost a pair, honestly. Monk is, well, a Buddhist monk, by the name of Takigawa Houshou. Ayako Matsuzaki is a self-proclaimed Shinto priestess. They're also a rock-band bassist and a doctor, respectively. Monk's pretty powerful but apparently lacks some amount of finesse? And Ayako… well, honestly, unless she's near a 'live' tree, she's a little useless, but her charms work well anyway. They seem to partner up a lot, and argue all the time. They're like an old married couple."

"I… Okay, so the bassist is a monk, and a doctor is a priestess?" my guest asked.

"Yep."

"Let me get this straight," Gene looked right at me. "Noll tolerated a bassist monk, a doctor priestess, a what-should-be-too-young-to-actually-be-able-to-pull-it-off exorcist, a prankster researcher, and you, who I have yet to get a good feel for, and _no one died?_"

_Well, you did, but anyway._ "He tolerated me for the tea, if it's any consolation."

"… Oh geez. And let me guess, we're going to track them down, aren't we?"

"Well, I'd highly suggest it."

Gene's grin turned slightly… manic, for lack of a better word. "Oh, this is going to be fun."

_I'm not sure who I'm more afraid for, Gene when he meets the others, or the others when they meet Gene._

_**STEPS**_

Oliver Davis was a lot of things. Complicated was definitely one of them. Baffled, not so much. And yet…

He couldn't make heads nor tails out of what he just saw. It had been a while since he'd gotten sucked straight into a vision, but as the vision was Gene and he had been grabbing Gene's shirt, as well as the fact that his brother tended to be the exception for a lot of things, Oliver was not overly surprised.

No, what had Oliver confused was that, for a moment there, he had been _sure_ he was about to watch his own brother die. The sickly feeling, the car approaching, the panic that wasn't actually his in his chest…

But then, out of nowhere, a girl just. Appears. Shoves him away. Oliver didn't get a good look at her, as Gene had screwed his eyes shut and it _had_ been dark and then the vision ended. Oliver did hear her surprise in the fact that _shoving a person and yourself off a road and into a thorn bush hurt, dummy_, and immediately decided that Gene was about to get in over his head. As per usual.

Oliver couldn't quite say what was going on as of yet, but he knew two things.

One. That girl had saved his brother's life, and everyone would be thankful if the story ever came to surface.

Two. That girl had appeared out of _literally nowhere_.

…Teleportation, maybe? Despite the fact Oliver was basically breathing, real-life science-fiction, Oliver highly doubted that was the case. Or maybe the word wasn't 'doubted' but 'sincerely hoped not' because, as per what tended to happen, if there's one person that good at teleportation, then there's probably more, and then locked murder cases and robberies would get ten times more difficult. And Oliver did not want to think of the implications of that.

Add onto the weird phone call from Gene earlier, cancelling his ticket home for 'maybe a month, or two, or some amount of time, don't worry Luella I'm fine, really', and Oliver had a new case on his hands.

Ah, well, he'd been dreadfully bored recently anyway.

_**STEPS**_

**Things to note: I wasn't sure whether to do a traditional small Japanese apartment or like, a slightly nicer one, and in the end, canon chose for me. I tried to keep it accurate. Interpret in this chapter as-keeping it as brief as possible. Likewise, the way I'm taking care of the school problem later on isn't exactly like how Japanese schools usually do…. These sorts of things, but, somewhat necessary if these children are about to go on a quest. There'll be a variety of hotels and lodgings, but I'll trend towards what I know, aka not-traditional-Japanese, but my excuse is that Gene is English and Mai is trying to get the tourist out of him and is only about halfway succeeding. Mai's apartment might become something of a home base for this, and thus may later be upgraded by either Mai moving OR them finding a different home base. Maybe the SPR office. They won't really spend much time there, though, at least not right now.**

**Ah, also, there may or may not be other cases, paranormal or otherwise. I kinda want to get at least these two involved in a murder. "Yeah, so, that person did it, the dead guy told me so." That'll go over well, I'm sure. (And then maybe we'll meet Hirota…) But I haven't officially decided one way or another on it. They have some priorities, you know. If I go for a lighter ending, I might keep it slightly open ended (so it can continue on in its own self universe in your head where this children run through the country side causing havoc and solving stuff). But, again, nothing for sure and, as always, I love any input you guys may have! The ending is rather far off as is, anyway.**

**UNTIL NEXT TIME, FRIENDS!**


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